Kenneth E. Boulding Quotes

Supply always comes on the heels of demand.

The production of goods had become an end in itself and the consumption of goods only the means to further production.

The difficulty lies, not in finding a producer, but in finding a consumer.

The urge to consume is fathered by the value system which emphasizes the ability of the society to produce.

Big business always serve - directly or indirectly - the masses.

America... an economic system prouder of the distribution of its products than of the products themselves.

Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production.

The individual serves the planning system not by supplying it with savings and the resulting capital; he serves it far more by consuming its products.

Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. The maxim is so perfectly self-evident that it would be absurd to attempt to prove it. But in the mercantile system the interest of the consumer is almost constantly sacrificed to that of the producer; and it seems to consider production, and not consumption, as the ultimate end and object of all industry and commerce.

Firms produce goods for households - that's us - and provide us with incomes, and that's even better, because we can spend those incomes on more goods and services. That's called the circular flow of the economy.

Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.

Most of the things we buy are wants. And we call them needs, but they're wants.

After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.

First rule of Economics 101: our desires are insatiable. Second rule: we can stomach only three Big Macs at a time.

Consumption may be regarded as negative production.

I love the way capitalism finds a place - even for its enemies.

Now, if most Americans want to go out and buy a car, they don't say, you know, 'I think I'll call the chairman of the board of Ford Motor Company and see what kind of deal we can make here.'

By continually pushing the message that we have the right to gratification now, consumerism at its most expansive encouraged a demand for fulfillment that could not so easily be contained by products.

Most human beings are defined in terms of their capacity to consume.

The world’s demand for energy will never stop.

Capitalism is not simply mass production, but mass production to satisfy the needs of the masses.

The capitalist distribution network, a complex chain of factory, transport, warehouse and retail outlet, is one of the greatest male accomplishments in the history of culture.

The cold, commercial word 'market' disguises its human character - a market is a collection of our aspirations, exertions, choices and desires.

If you just hold your cell phone for 30 seconds and think backwards through its production, you have the entire techno-industrial culture wrapped up there. You can't have that device without everything that goes with it.

Shopping is Not Creating.